Growing
by j25652
Summary: Kristena McEntire was a normal high school student, beside the fact that she was about to have a baby. That was all before she was marked. She learns that she is literally the daughter of the Goddess Nyx, and that she, alone, must calm the growing tension between the humans and the vampires. She must do do it all while raising the first ever vampire child.
1. Chapter 1

A House of Night Fan Fic  
The Unusual Mark  
I was pregnant; seven months in, when I first saw him. I was having a fight with my boyfriend, Jak (not the father), about the two of us and how he played a part in my baby's life. He was standing behind me in the hallway, as if he weren't there. Jak was mid sentence when he just stopped talking. For a moment I actually believed he was going to let me talk, but then his mouth gaped, and his arm rose to point to right behind my left shoulder. I was sort of pissed at him for acting so childish, and trying to pull the attention away from him; then I turned around. He was just standing there as if it was his job to watch over me. He was elegant, or at least as elegant as a tracker could be. We all knew about them; we all knew that as we grew our chances of being marked became more and more probable, and now he was standing behind me, the pregnant chic, ready to mark me.  
"Kristena McEntire, Night has chosen thee; thy death will be thy birth. Night calls to thee; hearken to Her sweet voice. Your destiny awaits you at the House of Night! On the date of your child's birth you will be reborn to the kingdom of your Goddess." He spoke in a calming yet powerful voice, one of ability. He put one finger to the middle of my forehead. A stabbing pain was sent through my head as if the tracker had a drill bit on the tip of his finger and was trying to make it through my brain to the other side. My knees buckled under the weight of my pregnant belly, and I began to fall. Jak stood there staring like a moron. As I was about to hit the floor, I fell in to someone's arms. It all happened as if in slow motion, I saw every detail as I fell. Then when that someone caught me it was as if I had fallen on a cloud.  
I looked up and Andy was standing over me holding me close to his face. We stayed there for a few moments, our faces close together, before he helped me back to my swollen feet. "Um," I mumbled as I straightened my hair and glasses, "Thank you," pause, "For catching me before I hit the floor." Pause. Both Andy and Jak stood there staring at me; Jak with a jealous look upon his face and Andy a puzzled look upon his own. He quickly hid all the emotions he might or might not have felt for me, I definitely didn't know, before replying, "Just looking out for my kid." Nothing more, his words said he had no feelings toward me just the baby, but the obvious quiver in his sentence said another. I had no means of trying to sort through his confusing mess of emotions. He looked around for other hallway trespassers, and when he had decided no one was there to see him shine emotions through a small crack in his heart, he bent down and kissed  
my stomach. When he stood, his eyes were full of emotion, tears piling at the edge of his lids, and said one thing before walking away. "Be more careful with Allissa, please." Jak and I were left standing there.  
After a few moments, the shock of what had happened hit him (for me it seemed fine. I don't know if it was the adrenaline from the new mark, or if it was the bared emotions from both me and Andy; but everything felt just fine). He gently, but forcibly, grabbed a hold of my arms. "Are you okay?" He spoke quickly, but to me as if I was incoherent. "What are you going to do? I mean, about the baby? Is it gonna come out with one of those freak tats. Omygosh." He paused to pant, which gave me time to take in what he had just said. Confusion then anger was my first two reactions. I looked at his red; oxygen deprived face, trying to figure out how he could be such an ass, but still genuinely have feelings for me. I slapped him and walked away. I didn't want to hear his stupid explanation, or his stupid heartfelt apologies that meant nothing at all. He was a really smart, but stupid, jock.  
We have always known about the vampires, and we, or at least I, have always been alright with them. (Even, to an extent, admired their strength and willingness to coexist with us humans. When we all know that they could join forces and wipe us out quickly.) I thought that Jak was too, but now I'm beginning to think he had just put up an act to be with me. If I weren't pregnant I might actually think it was sweet, but this has hardened my mind, especially to his ass hole-ishness.  
I ducked into the first empty restroom I could find. The stalls were arranged against the left wall in comparison to the door. There were four smaller stalls and one larger one meant for handicapped people. Before accepting the empty restroom, I hit open all the stall doors, seeing as I couldn't bend over to check for feet. I stood in front of the mirror closest to the wall, and saw that instead of having the outline of a dark blue crescent moon I had what looked to be a very faded outline of a light blue crescent moon in the middle of my forehead. My thoughts became tangled as they raced around my mind. 'What would come of the baby?' 'Do I have to go to the House of night now?' 'He did say after Allissa was born, right?' 'What was I supposed to do?'  
My world began to spin, and I realized that I hadn't eaten anything since this morning. I pulled my bag off my back and set it on the edge of the sink. I pulled the zippers apart and began tearing through my bag looking for the snacks my dad usually packed in my bag. As the edges of my vision began to blur, I remembered that my dad left for a business trip last night leaving me to my own devices at home.  
I suddenly remembered my Milky Way that I had left in my locker at lunch hour. My walk was extremely unsteady, but somehow I made it to my locker and was able to put in the combo on the lock. The Milky Way was sitting on top of my books on top of my locker divider. I grabbed it as I sank to the floor. Allissa started kicking the inside of my stomach, hard. Since I got pregnant, my hypoglycemia had worsened, because my nutrients no longer went to just me. My nutrients were now being shared with Allissa. I sat on the floor below my locker and ate my candy bar.  
I looked around and realized that someone was at the end of the hall watching me. I couldn't see a face, but I could tell it was a girl. "What the hell are you looking at?" No response from this girl. If she kept standing there staring at me I was going to get up and beat the crap out of her. The girl began to walk toward me and I realized that she was no girl at all, but instead a woman. As she drew closer I also realized that she was a vampire. "Damn it. I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to be disrespectful. I just, I thought..." I didn't know what to say. "Don't worry my daughter."  
She paused, as she coninued to walk toward me. "I have never marked someone in your situation, but you my dear, are in this situation, because of your family heritage." Puzzlement must have crossed my face because that's what I was feeling. "What are you talking about? I don't even know who my mom is so how could her or my dad be in any way responsible for me getting pregnant?" The edges of her lips tilted upward, and I felt embarrassed. "You do not know your mother because the woman whom gave birth to you is not your mother. I am, my love."  
I woke in a start, and knew what I had to do. I slowly stood up, and I walked out of the school.  
When I reached my red hybrid I pulled my phone off of the console charger, filpped it open and dialed my dads number. It gave three rings before my dad answered on the other side. "Hey whats up baby?" I froze. Before now I had total confidence in what was happening to me, but now that I had to tell my dad it was as if someone had wedged a cork in my throat. "Daddy, I need to tell you something." He didn't give me a chance to continue. "Oh, oh. Did you have the baby, are you having the baby now? I'm on my way honey." I opened my mouth to tell him 'No, I'm not having her, shes fine', but before i could make a sound, I heard a click on the phone and i knew there was no stopping him now. I put the key on top of the console hit the on button, and drove out of the parking lot. I had planned to go straight to the house of night, but now that my dad was freaking out, that wasn't an option.  
I drove four blocks to Dennis Street, turned left and pulled into my two story suburbia home at 490 Dennis Street, Tumwater. I got out of my Toyota Hybrid, and walked to the door. Our tan two story, home had three windows on the second floor in the front, and two larger on the bottom. The door was wooden with glass frame-working, and had golden windows on the sides. I unlocked the door, and walked inside. I barely had time to set my stuff on the floor inside the door, before my yoga pants became soaked.  
The next two hours were all a blur. The pain became almost unbearable. I stumbled to the phone, and dialed 911. "911, Whats you emergency?" I was panting and i could hear it playing through to the other line. "Hello, are you ok?" "No, I think my water just broke. Please hurry." I screamed and dropped the phone. All the movies I'd ever watched, it never seemed to hurt this much. When I dropped the phone the speaker button had hit. "Miss? Are you still there?" The pain was too much; black dots danced across my eyes. "Miss?" "Ya, ya, I'm still here. Please hurry." I shouted, non-hostily, at the woman on the phone. "Miss, an ambulance is on the way. I need you to breath. Slow your breathing. I need you to sit down if you can. Miss I need you to talk to me"  
I heard her talking, and I knew that i should respond, but it was all i could do to not scream. The moans of pain began. I tried my best to remember every thing i learned from birthing classes. "Miss, I need you to remove your pants and under clothings please. If you can reach a pillow, I need you to reach it and and lay back. Miss, can you tell me your name and age?" I was suprised when my voice came out sounding strong and confident to tell her my name and that I was seventeen. I could feel Allissa's head pushing out. I could still hear the womans voice on the phone, but it became a voice in the background when I began to scream. Within minutes, which is faster than I've heard of a birth happen, Allissa was out. By the time I heard her first cry, the paramedics were walking through the door. They began working in a flash. They cut the umbilical cord, clamped it, and had the both of us in the ambulance within  
twenty minutes.  
I had expected to be extremely sore after Allissa was born; instead i wasn't. I didn't feel anything, and I had a feeling that had to do with what happened today in the high school halls. While we were in the ambulance, they had gotten Allissa cleaned off, and handed her to me for the first time.  
She was beautiful. She was so amazingly breath taking. She stared up at me with eyes that looked so big next to the exhilaratingly beautiful purple crescent on her forehead. I was momentarily taken aback by the shade, but i couldn't focus on that very long.  
When we arrived at the hospital, a woman with a blue crescent on hr forehead was waiting at the ambulance dock for us to arive. The paramedics loaded Allissa and I off of the ambulance. The woman began to silently walk aside the gerny. She had thick, short, auburn hair. She was thin and walked respectively. Instead of speaking and looking upon humans with superiority, she acted as if she were no different than the rest of them. Even though I had never spoken to her, I felt respect, both for her and from her.  
Instead of admitting me, they put me in a small room, surrounded by blue curtains covered in fish and clouds. After about five minutes a nurse came in and informed me that I would be leaving the hospital in just a few moments. After she left, I just sat there, waiting and admiring the beautiful life i held in my arms. I had just begun to see Andy's green eyes, when my arm started ringing.  
I pulled my phone out of my arm pocket on my hoodie, and answered it.  
"Hello?" There was no pause before words were spurted into my ear. "Hey your dad called me and said you were having Allissa. Are you?" For a moment i was confused at who was talking but then i looked at Allissa and realized Andy was talking. "Yes. I had Allissa. She fine, I'm fine. Were fine." I could hear his breathing calm. At the moment he began to talk, the woman from the ambulance dock opened the curtain. She didn't say anything, yet i knew that she was here to take Allissa and I to the House of Night.  
I hadn't heard a word that Andy had said until he screamed my name. "KRISTENA, HELLO." my head cleared and my mouth began to move. "Ya, what?" I could almost hear his frustration. "Where are you?" I calmed my voice and replied. "I'm at the hospital, but I'm not staying. Meet us at the House of Night." He said nothing except ok and I'll meet you there.  
The woman handed me a black pair of sweats with a silver uppward spiral embroidered on the left hip. For the first time since i saw her, the woman opened her mouth and began to speak. "Hello. My name is Esther. I am the Head Priestess at the Seattle House of Night. I must say your's and your daughter's marks are very unusual.


	2. Chapter 2

The First child.  
I was sitting in the car, Allissa in a car seat in the back, staring into the sun visor mirror. I noticed that, in the time it took us to get to the hospital, and get us out, both Allissa and my mark had turned purple. Allissa's had filled in, but mine was still just an out line.  
As Esther was stepping into the drivers seat, my mind flashed back to the dream i had at school. It was all so confusing; I wanted to ask Esther, but I was just marked not six hours ago. I was kinda scared that she would say it was just stress mixed with an over-active imagination.  
She gave a sideway glance at me, but said nothing. I could see the hint of a smile playing at the edge of her mouth. Already i felt like i could trust her. My phone began to rang. I pulled my phone out of my pocket. The front face told me that my dad was calling. I flipped the phone open and put it to my ear.  
"Dad?" I heard a sigh of relief from the other side. "Kristena, i just landed. I'm on my way to the hospital right now. Are you ok?" I couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "Yes, I'm ok. Dont bother going to the hospital. I need you to go home and get all the stuff I might need to live at the house of night." I could almost see the gears turning in his head. "Oh, I knew this was coming. It was about time. Ok, so I'll meet you there. I love you." "I love you, too." The phone clicked off, and for the first time sense this started, i felt alone. From the back of the car Allissa began to cry. I reached back, unsure of what to do. Esther pulled over and handed me a diaper bag. "I wasn't sure what to expect. Inside are a couple of different types of formulated bottles. You might want to try the pink tinted one first." I accepted the bag, then quickly moved from the front seat tk the back.  
Allissa's mark had begun to fade into a lighter shade of purple, almost a rosy pink. I opened the bag to find three bottles of formulated milk. As Esther had said to, I grabbed the one with a slight pink tint to it. I knew that vampires had tk drink blood (one of my friends cousins had been marked), but i didn't ever want to think about that possibility. And now, I was about to feed it into my first baby's mouth. I wasn't to fond of the idea;infact it kinda made me sick to my stomach, but i knew she had to eat. So i put the bottle in her mouth and she instantly began sucking the mixture out of the bottle.  
As the bottle drained, Allissa's mark began to turn to its normal shade of purple. "Um, Esther, is her mark supposed to change colors?" She took a few moments to think before she answered, "I'm not entirely sure. You see, this is the first time in recorded history that a vampire child has ever been born. I heard that an infant would be joining us as well, and I was very confused. The Goddess Nyx has never blessed us with a child." I looked back at Allissa, at the first child.  
We curved through the endless streets of Seattle. After a while, Esther pulled into a log drive way. The buildings in front of us looked more like a college campus than what I had imagined. A tall gate ascended above us, pulling me forever out of my old life and into my new one. As we approached the gates I saw both my dads large SUV and Andy's small Honda sitting off to the side. I pointed them out to Esther. She pulled up to the back of Andy's honda and turned the key in the ignition. I carefully unstrapped Allissa from her seat and stepped out. Both Andy and my dad stepped out of their cars. Dad walked casualy with a smile on his face, but Andy was in a full sprint the minute both feet were out of his car.  
He stoped full on about a foot away from us. Tears began to well in his eyes. He slowly took two more steps closer. "Can.. can I" were the only words he could say. I carefully placed Allissa in his arms. "She's beautiful." He looked up at me and embraced me in a baby sandwich. We didn't hold on tight, but it wasn't long before Allissa's crys separated us. My dad was the next to hold her. Next Esther explained the need of a campus pass for visitors. Then she explained that i could choose a new name for a new life, but I decided to keep my name for my daughter. We toured the grounds, and after that it was about eight o'clock and Esther had to go because school was about to start.  
My dad had to leave to catch a flight back to Wisconsin. Andy helped me carry my stuff to my new room. Policy is that everybody has a room mate, but because I have a baby, i get a room to myself with an assigned 'buddy'; who is in the room next to me. "So what happens now?" Andy asked the question on both our minds. The problem was, neither of us had the answer. "I dont know." We arrived at my room. "Would you like me to go now?" I shook my head. I didn't want to be alone right now. I opened my door to find a top of the line crib leaning up against my bed. Next to it were two bags of the baby formula that she used in the car. Against the left wall was a changing station, already set up.  
Allissa began to cry, and i noticed that her mark was yet again morphing, but instead of pink it was changing into blue. I leaned over and realized that she needed a diaper change. I pulled wipes and a diaper out of the bag Esther gave me. Her diaper wasn't as bad as the first mothers class claimed it to be. After she had a clean diaper her mark shaded back to purple, just as it had in the car.  
"You know, I think her mark changes colors for different needs." Andy stood up and walked away from the crib he was putting together, and joined me at the changing station. "What do mean?" I explained what happened in the car, and what just happened. "Well mabey you should ask esther, mabey she'll have an explination." I shook my head. "Nope she said this is the first time this has ever happened. You know, Allissa." He shook his head in understandment. Neither of us new what to do so he went back to building the crib, and I strapped her into the changing station.  
I walked to the other side of the room to the closets. One was filled with onesies and other baby clothes, and the other side was filled with house of night uniforms in my size clothes. I walked a little further through a door. Inside was a small, but manageable bathroom. There was a small sink below a medicine cabinet mirror. Next to the counter was a toilet. I tried to imagine potty training Allissa on that toilet. It was too far in the future for me to think. Sitting in the bath tub was a baby bath chair. I haven't been here three hours and I've already got so much from them.  
I walked back to the room where Andy was putting the final touches on the crib. "Did you know that this has a crib warmer and cooler?" Andy was standing there. And I was feeling alone. I walked over to Allissa and he followed. "It's about time for me to leave, I have school tomorrow. I turned to face him and he was standing less than half a foot from me. Our faces were so close and it just happened so fast. First we kissed for about thirty seconds, then Allissa drew us apart. We stood there staring, trying to catch our breaths. A few minutes passed by; I opened my mouth to say something about Jak, but he rushed out of the room first. Allissa started crying, an ear piercing scream.  
Within ten minutes, Allissa's mark had turned purple. I tried to feed her; he diaper was dry; she had no fever. I had absolutely no idea what to do to make her stop crying. I picked hep up and she quieted a little but still wouldn't stop. About thirty minutes had gone by and I could not get her to stop crying. I grabbed a shoulder rag and threw it over my shoulder. I walked out of the dorm to where Esther said the classroom buildings were.  
My screaming baby was driving me insane. I walked down the hall, trying to find the class that said Prof. Esther Clain. About the fith door on the right, a woman stuck her head out of the door to investigate the noise coming from my arms. As soon as she saw me she ushered me over to her. She stepped fully out of her class room, and closed the door behind her. "I gave birth to a child three months before I was born into the kingdom of Goddess Nyx. Let me hold her?" It was obviously a request, but it felt more like a concerned demand. I passed the screaming Allissa into the womans arms. Almost instantly, Allissa quieted.  
"You were holding her in an uncomfortable position. My name is Professor Galia. The Goddess has gifted me with an affinity for small children." I felt relieved, both from the noise and the fact that someone here understood my stress. From down the hall, a door opened. But i didn't pay attention to it because Professor Galia was showing me how to hold my 'little tyke'. Esther was at my shoulder in minutes. "Ah, Kristena, I see you have met your mentor. I was going to wait until tomorrow to introduce you, but I see you have already done that. If you have any questions about anything, that your classmates can't answer of course, then you will ask Professor Galia." I shook my head in understandment. I knew that i would be here quite often. "Um, I do have one question." All four eyes turned to me. "Ask away." Prof. Galia seemed really nice. "Um, what do I do with Allissa tomorrow when I start school." Prof. Esther and Prof. Galia exchaned a look of  
agreement. Esther was the first to speak up. "I'm afraid your only choise is to take her to your classes with you. At least until you can find someone who is willing to watch over her durring your hours." I looked at Prof. Galia. "She is correct. I will notify all of your professors, and let them know of your predicament." I sighed; half in relief and half in fear. "Ok, I guess shes coming to class with me." I looked down at a sleeping Allissa. "You gonna come to work with mamma tomorrow. Yes you are."I looked up and realized that i was still standing it front of two professors. My cheeks filled with blush. "Well, um, ok. I guess I'll head back to my dorm. Put her to bed. Oh and thanks for the crib and other stuff. "It is our pleasure to help our fledglings." I smiled and walked out of the building. About three minutes into my trek back to the dorms, a cold wind blew over me. The wind began whistling my name. 'Kristena', 'Kristena, come to me. This is  
you Goddess, I beckon the, hearken to my voice.' As if I was no loner in control of my own two feet, I began to walk towwrds the direction of the wind. A woman was floating off the ground about a foot. She was under a large, flowering tree. Her presence illuminated the darkness around her. I knew immediately that this was my Goddess. This was Nyx.


End file.
